A democratic kick at the evil twins

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Saudi Arabia has broken a taboo. Until a year ago talk of elections was regarded as sacrilegious

WHILE THE crowds of the Cedar Revolution were chanting “freedom and democracy” in the squares and streets of Beirut, another revolution that will go much further in reshaping the Middle East has gone unnoticed.

Saudis have been queueing over the past few weeks to vote in the first elections in the oil-rich kingdom. To be sure, the exercise in Saudi Arabia is not a model of democracy. The elections concerned only half of the 1,200 seats in the municipal councils, with the other half going to government appointees. Worse still, women were not allowed to vote, let alone stand for